... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : April 2017

Well, one of my biggest fears has finally happened. My children will no longer nap. The one point in the day that would help me to keep my sanity and regroup is gone. I am heartbroken. I wish I could explain to them just how amazing a daily nap is… they refuse though. Not napping during the day also has a negative impact on our evening routine as now they have started to break down earlier in the evening and the negative behaviors have increased. I will admit that I do “force” about 1.5 hours of quiet time during the day and put them in separate bedrooms with either books or their leapfrog epics for entertainment. Much of that time though is spent turning them around and sending them back to their rooms, so it isn’t very relaxing for me.

We have had a very busy month. A friend of mine helped me to drive them back to Illinois to see family for Easter. I never would have survived the trip alone – we were barely on the interstate before they were asking for me to hand them something. We ended up stopping 8 times on that trip, but we drove it all in one day and I was extremely grateful to arrive in Illinois. The kids NEEDED to be out of the car at that point and I needed a break. We had a lot of fun with family and enjoyed our time together. They were able to color eggs and do other Easter activities with their cousins – including a night time egg hunt. The highlight of the trip for Landon was a visit and tour of the fire station – he loved it! My parents drove back with me and then we spent some time together in Charlotte shopping and visiting breweries.

My days are full of entertainment. Yesterday, Riley insisted upon being called Princess Riley all morning and would only respond if we called out that name. She even insisted upon the ladies at the gym daycare calling her Princess Riley as she bowed and curtseyed all over the place. Riley continues to love her animals and we always seem to have one with us. She became focused on horses over the last several weeks and that led to the purchase of multiple horses to add to our collection. She loves to help me around the house and will often be about 6 inches from me as I move room to room – constantly talking. She is very protective of her brother and wants to make sure he is taken care of and that we wait for him if he gets behind us. She is becoming increasingly independent though – this morning she got herself dressed, shoes and all. Unfortunately, about 99% of the time her shoes are on the wrong feet. She loves to wear “princess dresses” and leggings and “dance shoes.” She continues to grow in height and weight and is wearing mostly 4T and 5T clothes and size 8 shoes. We are still working on the potty training – she has good days and bad days, but I remain hopeful that it will click one day. She loves to eat and snack – her favorite snacks are apples and cheese and “snack pouches” (aka applesauce pouches). She likes to write and draw and has shown some improvement with her coloring, however, she does get very easily frustrated and wants to quit if she feels like she has “messed up.” As a result of this mentality, soccer can be difficult at times. She becomes frustrated when she can’t keep up or she misses a kick and will come to the sidelines and ask to take a break. She does love to run and jump and play and still very rarely walks anywhere.

Landon continues to amaze me with his desire to understand how things work or the words he “knows.” The other day in the car he told Riley that something she said was “offensive.” It was not used in context and I am sure that he does not know exactly what it means, but it caught me off guard and made me smile. He likes to explain things to me and talk about how things work. He is in charge of pushing buttons everywhere we go. He loves to play with cars and trucks and action figures. He enjoys reading and drawing and “draws” me a map every time we are in the car. He loves soccer practice and tries his best – he is slower than the rest of the group, but he manages to keep up or find a short cut. Right now, he is back on his reflux medicine. We have a few incidents of vomit this last week, so I took him to the doctor. (SIDENOTE: there are few things worse than using a toothbrush to clean vomit out of the crevices of a car seat) We feel like his reflux may have been aggravated by season allergies and nasal drainage and are going to try medicine for 6 weeks to help. At the ENT I learned that Landon has not gained any weight in the last 6 months, but he has gotten taller. Finding clothes for him is a struggle right now – he is tall enough for the 4T clothes, but his waist barely is a 3T size. He wears a size 9 shoe, so it appears he is going to get the gene for big feet from his mother. He seems to have also developed a love for music from his mother, I have found him using his epic to listen to music on a few occasions as well as asking me to sing to him. He is also the one that will put himself down for a nap if he is tired – yet another example of how he takes after me! Ha ha. There are days he does not eat well, but you can almost always win him over with a PBJ sandwich, chips, and milk. He loves his milk.

We did not have a lot of opportunity for school activities this month with the travel. We did do a few activities together focused on learning about the weather and Easter. For the rest of the post… pictures!